10+12+23+25+30=32
This article is adapted from my Toastmasters Ice Breaker speech. Before I began my speech, I wrote "10+12+23+25+30=32" on the board.
My name is Melissa Megginson Axtell and I promise I'm not bad at math. Now basic arithmetic tells us that 10 + 12 + 23 + 25 + 30 does not equal 32. But in the equation that equals my 32 years on this earth, each of these ages are necessary integers in making up the equation of who I am today.
Right after I turned 10 I learned how quickly my life can be taken away from me. A few days after the world survived Y2K I fell asleep with a bad headache. A week later I remember waking up in the hospital. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare illness called meningoencephalitis. I was on an IV and wasn't able to go back to school for months. Even though I was very young when this happened, I knew just how lucky I was to be alive and how valuable and fleeting my time on this planet really is.
I began my love affair with traveling when I was 12. In the summer of 2001, my family went to Europe and we've been traveling pretty regularly ever since. Traveling has taught me a number of incredible lessons. First, It's taught me Humility - I do not always know best and sometimes it's ok to ask for help. Especially when you don't speak the language. It's taught me Gratitude - I am in incredibly thankful for the opportunity to travel and will never take that for granted. It's taught me patriotism - for all of our faults and all of the insanity going on this year, we are incredibly lucky to have the freedoms we do and too often we take that for granted. And most of all traveling has given me a view of the world beyond myself. There’s so much out there and I play a small part in what makes up this wild world. I've been collecting these lessons for the past 15 years and I know there is so much left to learn.
At the age of 23, I became an adult. I know the government thought I became one 5 years earlier, but really the jokes on them. At this time, I, like any petrified graduate-to-be, began my search for the perfect (or - really - any job). Hiding among the insurance companies and the telemarketing positions was a listing for PinLeague, a Pinterest marketing site now known as Tailwind. At the time, PinLeague was not the most professional looking company. My friends joked that I was being catfished I would end up on MTV looking for this company someday. But after speaking with the co-founders and hearing their passion I decided to join the company and became employee number 2. I quickly learned that I had to leave my procrastinating ways behind. These guys trusted me to do my job and to do my job well. In those first few, extremely bumpy months I began my career and I really fell in love with being a professional adult. Unlike college homework, the work I do affects real change in the real world and it’s an unparalleled feeling. When I started at Tailwind we only had 50 users. Now we're up to 60,000. Every day I go to work and I feel like I'm killing at this adulting thing.
I moved to Oklahoma City when I was 25. It's only 30 miles north of where I'm from, but it might as well be a different world. Moving to Oklahoma City, and living alone for the first time was really pretty scary. Not only did I have to learn where my closest grocery store was, I also had to learn how to kill a cockroach without having to burn the entire house down. Beyond conquering domesticity, living in Oklahoma City has introduced me to some of the most amazing organizations, activities, and people. My enthusiasm to be involved in all the things can make me a little crazy sometimes, but I wouldn’t change my life in Oklahoma City for the world. OKC is definitely the place to be.
Thirty can be a scary year for many. The big 3-0 can make you realize how far you've come and how much further you have to go. For me, 30 was a really big year. After having a lifelong dream of earning my master's degree (and failing out seven years earlier), I finally completed my MBA from the University of Oklahoma. I went to school part-time while working full-time leading to thousands grueling hours of studying and maintaining my workload. Walking across that stage at graduation and being handed my diploma by my father was one of my proudest moments. While I thought this moment would be the pinnacle of my 30th year, I was proven wrong when my boyfriend proposed to me after 6 years of dating. On June 27th, 2019 I made the promise to John Axtell that I would spend the rest of my life with him.
While my addition is off and I might not be 100, these important numbers make up the equation of my 32 years of life so far.
Right after I turned 10 I learned how quickly my life can be taken away from me. A few days after the world survived Y2K I fell asleep with a bad headache. A week later I remember waking up in the hospital. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare illness called meningoencephalitis. I was on an IV and wasn't able to go back to school for months. Even though I was very young when this happened, I knew just how lucky I was to be alive and how valuable and fleeting my time on this planet really is.
I began my love affair with traveling when I was 12. In the summer of 2001, my family went to Europe and we've been traveling pretty regularly ever since. Traveling has taught me a number of incredible lessons. First, It's taught me Humility - I do not always know best and sometimes it's ok to ask for help. Especially when you don't speak the language. It's taught me Gratitude - I am in incredibly thankful for the opportunity to travel and will never take that for granted. It's taught me patriotism - for all of our faults and all of the insanity going on this year, we are incredibly lucky to have the freedoms we do and too often we take that for granted. And most of all traveling has given me a view of the world beyond myself. There’s so much out there and I play a small part in what makes up this wild world. I've been collecting these lessons for the past 15 years and I know there is so much left to learn.
At the age of 23, I became an adult. I know the government thought I became one 5 years earlier, but really the jokes on them. At this time, I, like any petrified graduate-to-be, began my search for the perfect (or - really - any job). Hiding among the insurance companies and the telemarketing positions was a listing for PinLeague, a Pinterest marketing site now known as Tailwind. At the time, PinLeague was not the most professional looking company. My friends joked that I was being catfished I would end up on MTV looking for this company someday. But after speaking with the co-founders and hearing their passion I decided to join the company and became employee number 2. I quickly learned that I had to leave my procrastinating ways behind. These guys trusted me to do my job and to do my job well. In those first few, extremely bumpy months I began my career and I really fell in love with being a professional adult. Unlike college homework, the work I do affects real change in the real world and it’s an unparalleled feeling. When I started at Tailwind we only had 50 users. Now we're up to 60,000. Every day I go to work and I feel like I'm killing at this adulting thing.
I moved to Oklahoma City when I was 25. It's only 30 miles north of where I'm from, but it might as well be a different world. Moving to Oklahoma City, and living alone for the first time was really pretty scary. Not only did I have to learn where my closest grocery store was, I also had to learn how to kill a cockroach without having to burn the entire house down. Beyond conquering domesticity, living in Oklahoma City has introduced me to some of the most amazing organizations, activities, and people. My enthusiasm to be involved in all the things can make me a little crazy sometimes, but I wouldn’t change my life in Oklahoma City for the world. OKC is definitely the place to be.
Thirty can be a scary year for many. The big 3-0 can make you realize how far you've come and how much further you have to go. For me, 30 was a really big year. After having a lifelong dream of earning my master's degree (and failing out seven years earlier), I finally completed my MBA from the University of Oklahoma. I went to school part-time while working full-time leading to thousands grueling hours of studying and maintaining my workload. Walking across that stage at graduation and being handed my diploma by my father was one of my proudest moments. While I thought this moment would be the pinnacle of my 30th year, I was proven wrong when my boyfriend proposed to me after 6 years of dating. On June 27th, 2019 I made the promise to John Axtell that I would spend the rest of my life with him.
While my addition is off and I might not be 100, these important numbers make up the equation of my 32 years of life so far.